


Green

by superswaggiesugadaddy



Series: Color Wheel [3]
Category: Akdong Musician, Red Velvet (K-pop Band)
Genre: 99 girls r gay, Alternate Universe - High School, F/F, Faeries - Freeform, Friends to Lovers, I'm aggressive abt how many fics involving one of them involves them dating chan, Magic, angsty, chanhyuk is the best big brother fight me about it, ripip me, so i decided the world needed more casual lesbians, this is too long
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-18
Updated: 2016-05-18
Packaged: 2018-06-09 06:15:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6893422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/superswaggiesugadaddy/pseuds/superswaggiesugadaddy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Just the story of two girls meeting and falling.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Green

**Author's Note:**

> This is one of the later parts of the color wheel series but bc the series doesn't rlly need 2 be read in any order I'm just posting it now bc i've been screaming about this for months

Away from busy streets rests a small meadow free of the daily hustle and bustle of city life. In this meadow the sun shines freely on long grass and wildflowers that twinkle like stars in the afternoon light. The meadow ends abruptly with a ledge that drops into the clear blue sea. This meadow is mostly untouched by human hands, being well protected behind a small patch of woods that no one really ever bothered to look beyond.

 

However as in many cases this rule had an exception.

 

Nearly everyday not long after school bells would ring out the end of the day across town, two girls would find their way into the peaceful space of the meadow. Coming from separate directions each still dressed for their classes, backpacks hanging from their shoulders along with an unnamed weight. The pair would always regard each other with a smile, wading their ways through the grass that brushed the tops of their legs, and meeting near the ledge. There they would rest as they watched the sea splash against the rocks below. There they’d share their days, their thoughts, and their dreams.

 

Their meeting had been purely coincidental, one was simply looking for a short cut home, the other had just been wandering around a new town. They’d both been more amazed at the fantasy-esque hide away than interested in the stranger they’d found there. Not bothering with introductions they both found themselves gravitating towards the ledge, letting the sea breeze hypnotise them. Neither of them left until the sun had begun to set over the horizon. 

 

The girls found themselves meeting again the next day in the long grass. They shared a knowing look each making their way across the meadow to the ledge. Their ledge as they would soon come to think of it. Holding out a hand and brushing light strawberry hair behind her ear the silence between the two was broken as the blonde introduced herself as  _ Yerim.  _ The other girl smiled her eyes shaping into crescents hidden by straight neat fringe, she introduced herself as  _ Suhyun. _ The girls didn’t say anything beyond their introductions, instead choosing to enjoy the peace of the sea and the way the meadow seemed to slow time.

 

It didn’t take Yerim and Suhyun long to settle into a familiar rhythm. Everyday they would meet each other as they emerged from their respective ends of the woods, they always seemed to arrive at the meadow at the same time, then they would converge at their ledge and simply relax in the company of another. Sometimes Yerim would entertain herself by weaving wild flowers into Suhyun’s dark hair as her friend would sing along to soft music played from one of their phones in a soft high voice. Other days they would sit in the grass as they worked on homework, only breaking the silence to ask the other a question about a math problem. Most often they would just lay on the ground as they confessed their worries and thoughts to each other in hushed voices.

 

One of these days as the girls rested in the long green grass in silence which was broken by Yerim. As she reached her hand out to the white clouds she let her words fall in a way that she could never do outside of the meadow.

“Su, do you ever feel like artificial grass?” Suhyun looked questioningly at her friend prompting her to continue. “You know like, you can’t breathe, like even though someone could easily mistake you for something real and living you just...” Yerim shrugged letting her hand fall back into the grass and rolling to face the brunette.

“You just aren’t?”  Suhyun’s voice was just as soft and unsure as it had when she’d first spoken to Yerim.

“Yeah.”

 

The girls stay lying on the ground surrounded by the green grass until the sun began to set over the sea, the hushed crash of waves breaking on the rocks the only thing filling the silence. They parted ways through the woods as the stars and moon began to light up the night sky.

 

Days later, not long after school bells had rung and students had rushed out of classes Suhyun once again found herself walking along her path to the woods that separated the city from the meadow. Her phone played hushed music through her earbuds as she walked, blotting out the sound of traffic.

 

Entering the meadow was potentially her favorite part of the day, leaving the dull hectic hustle and bustle of the city and replacing it with the bright calming vibrancy of the grass against the blue sky. The salty scent of the sea filled Suhyun’s lungs, it felt like the first real breath she’d taken that day filling her with life. 

 

Standing at the edge of the meadow where the grass brushed against her bare knees in time with the soft sea breeze, Suhyun looked towards the other end of the woods. She expected to see long blonde and pink waves of hair and a wide smile standing there like always, but was only met with the old trees of the woods.  _ Maybe Yerim is just late today?  _ The thought wasn’t reassuring, Suhyun sighed anyway as she made her way towards the ledge picking long blades of grass and wildflowers from the meadow along the way. She sat on the ledge trying to ignore how the air suddenly felt as stale and suffocating as the air in the city, busying her hands with weaving a delicate crown out of the grass and flowers.

 

Yerim never showed up at the meadow that day. Only then did Suhyun realise that she didn’t even have Yerim’s phone number to see if she was okay, even though they’d been meeting at the meadow almost everyday for three years they’d never shared the information. Suhyun looked sadly back at the ledge where she’d left the crown she’d made (it was a far cry from anything Yerim could have made but what could Suhyun say, she’d never been that good at art) under a small rock to keep it in place. Just incase Yerim came while she was gone.

 

Suhyun’s walk home was dull and grey, the gentle pull of worry she felt for Yerim worked at the edges of her mind. Her thoughts were full of ideas of what could have happened to her friend, flitting between harmless possibilities such as having detention, to ones that filled her with fear like what if Yerim had been kidnapped? With great effort she was finally able to push down the more unlikely suggestions out of her head. As she opened the door to her apartment she was surrounded by the perfume of the candles that her brother often kept lit.

 

Following the sound of soft guitar notes, Suhyun walked into the main room of the apartment where she found her brother, Chanhyuk, sitting on the floor hunched over his acoustic guitar scribbling into a notebook. Suhyun smiled putting her bag near her room and sitting down next to him.

 

“Hey, Suhyun,”  Chanhyuk pushed his glasses up his nose and readjusting his hand on the frets. “How was school? Anything interesting happen?” Shaking her head the Suhyun replied,

“School was the same, what are you writing?”

“A winter song, I wrote the words early. Wanna help?” Chanhyuk smiled at his sister holding his music notebook out to her. Suhyun nodded taking the book from her brother’s hand. “Sing the highlighted parts.”

 

The siblings sat together on the floor of the apartment working, Suhyun’s high melodies complimented by Chanhyuk's lower harmonies. It wasn’t until Chanhyuk broke between runs to complain about hunger that the pair realised they’d forgotten about dinner.

“Keep working, we both know you can’t cook” Suhyun stood up stretching and checking the clock, it was already eleven. “I’ll go make ramen or something.” While she worked on cooking the instant noodles Suhyun let her mind flit back to freshman year when she’d first met Yerim.

 

_ ⚘⚘⚘⚘ _

_ Yerim had held her hand out first taking Suhyun’s and introducing herself. They’d spent the whole day yesterday sitting together on the ledge without saying anything, but apparently today would be different. Suhyun introduced herself with her voice hardly louder than a whisper which she was sure would be lost under the crash of the waves on the shore below. Yerim had managed to hear it anyway, Yerim had a way of catching everything Suhyun said no matter how soft it was. _

 

_ The two girls sat together in the green grass, Suhyun could still see how the soft green grass set a perfect background for Yerim, her long blonde and pink hair flowing with the gentle sea breeze. Yerim must have been able to feel the way Suhyun was staring at her as she turned to Suhyun, who immediately ducked her head letting her own brown hair cover her reddening face.  _

 

 _Unlike the previous_ _day_ _the silence on the ledge was heavy, Suhyun stared into her lap where her hands pulled at the hem of her sweater. Suhyun was unsure of how long the silence lasted, too preoccupied with chewing the insides of her cheeks, eventually broken by soft humming from Yerim. The melody was soft, yet familiar, some overplayed pop song that she’d heard on the radio. Suhyun took the chance to glance over to Yerim, who looked like the picture of calmness and peace with her eyes closed as she breathed in the fresh air._

 

_ Suhyun hardly noticed herself singing along, adding the words to Yerim’s melody. Yerim’s eyes opened eyes locking with Suhyun’s, a smile pulling at her red lips. Suhyun smiled back when Yerim began to sing with her. Their voices rang through the meadow, startling some of the animals that lived in the adjacent woods. They both collapsed laughing when they hit the bridge of the song which neither of them knew the words to. _

 

_ “Isn’t it ‘Let’s erase everything’ or something like that?” Yerim asked between gulf of air once they’d started to calm down. _

_ “I don’t know maybe? I thought it was just a bunch of adlibs.” _

_ “You’d think we’d know, considering they play it every five seconds on the radio.” Suhyun nodded in agreement enjoying the now less awkward atmosphere on the ledge. “What kind of music do you like anyway, Suhyun?” Normally Suhyun would answer questions like these with a basic ‘I listen to a little of everything’ but something in Yerim’s eyes, maybe it was genuine curiosity and interest, compelled her not to. _

 

_ “I like folk music the most, my brother writes a lot of it,” Suhyun though she could easily get lost in Yerim’s dark eyes that seemed to go on forever, they were almost hypnotizing. Or maybe really hypnotizing, because she just missed what Yerim said. “Wait, what?” _

 

_ If Suhyun had thought Yerim was beautiful while she was relaxed, that was nothing compared to how she looked when she was laughing her whole body seemed to radiate with joy. “I said, folk music is cool, but my step sister and mom are more into R&B and soul so we play a lot of that at home.” Yerim  pushed a stray bit of hair behind her ear before continuing, “Tell me more about your brother though, composing sounds cool.” _

 

_ “It’s not really,” Suhyun once again found herself looking down at her lap. “He mostly just messes around with his guitar while I’m at school, sometimes he comes up with a song that he’ll teach me though.” _

 

_ “That’s totally cool,” Yerim pushed at Suhyun’s shoulder, “You should sing some for me sometime.” Suhyun smiled shyly agreeing to sing for Yerim someday. _

 

_ After that it had been easy to talk about their lives. Suhyun had told Yerim all about her family, how her parents were staying out of country for their jobs and had to travel all over the world and had sent Suhyun to stay with her older brother while she went through high school. Yerim told her about her mom and step sister Wendy, and their little shop where they sold baked goods and other snacks. It was the most freeing conversation Suhyun had had since moving to the city. _

 

_ ⚘⚘⚘⚘ _

 

Suhyun was yanked harshly from her memories by the sound of water hitting the stove top with a sharp hiss. Cursing to herself, Suhyun moved the pot away from the heat quickly finishing the noodles with more caution.

 

Chanhyuk and Suhyun ate together in relative silence, some music show playing quietly on their TV. As soon as the food was finished Chanhyuk shooed his sister away from the dirty dishes,

 

“Go sleep kiddo, it’s late and you have school in the morning.” Chanhyuk ruffled his sister’s hair pushing her towards her room despite her complaints.

 

Suhyun grumbled to herself as she switched into her pyjamas going through her nightly routines. She was not a baby and it’s not like Chanhyuk didn’t have work in the morning too. Grumbling still Suhyun curled herself into her bed, lulling herself to sleep with the hope that maybe Yerim would show up at the meadow tomorrow.

 

Suhyun found herself more distracted than usual the next day in her classes. Her brain seemed much more interested on what was happening at the meadow than it was with paying attention to what her math teacher was saying about angles. The tip of her pencil rested lightly against a blank page of her notebook as it had since she sat down for her first class of the day. Her eyes glanced at the clock nearly every time she heard the click of the hands moving, only to be disappointed with the small amount of time that had passed.

 

When the bell finally rang out at three Suhyun all but sprinted from her desk and into the hall. Her sneakers squeaked against the tiled school floors as she ran through the mob of students and outside where rain was beginning to fall from the dark clouds. Suhyun pulled her sweaters hood over her messily tied up hair to try and protect herself from some of the water that the sky was spitting out.

 

The city looked even more dismal than usual with the dark clouds overhead that blotted out the sun and steadily increasing rain falling from them. Suhyun could only register a little of the city as she jogged into the small patch of woods, already out of breath from her short bout of sprinting. Once surrounded by the trees she began weaving smoothly through the trees and plants that filled the space.

 

The meadow was dreamlike as always when Suhyun arrived, even with the rain dripping down from the sky. Suhyun switched her weight between her legs, grimacing at the wet squishy feeling of her shoes on her feet, waiting under the protection of the trees at the edge of the meadow.  _ ‘Why did you even come today, it’s raining Yerim won’t even show up’   _ Suhyun tried to ignore the thought instead pulling at the sleeves of her sweater that hung over her fingertips.

 

Suhyun was about to turn and leave the meadow when a soft rustling caught her attention. From the edge of the woods Yerim walked towards the ledge, her very being seemed to radiate with a light that told the rain to stop. Suhyun took soft steps towards Yerim, a weight leaving her heart as she drew closer to her friend and seemed to reassure herself that Yerim was really there.

 

“Yerim?” Yerim spun towards Suhyun the light arounder only seeming to grow brighter as a smile stretched across her face.

“Su! I was worried you weren’t going to come today with the rain.”

“Well, here I am. I was worried you weren’t coming, I was about to leave.”

“I guess I came at the perfect time then.”

“I guess you did. Where were you yesterday Yerim?” 

“One of the kids in my grade told me he wanted to talk to me after class, it wasn’t a big deal.”

“Oh,” in all of her thoughts of what had kept Yerim away from the meadow, talking to people from school hadn’t even been considered. “Next time text me or something so I don’t wait around for you then.” Suhyun hoped she sounded casual and not like something was clawing at the inside of her chest.

“I would, but I don’t have a phone right now” Suhyun could feel a frown tugging at the corners of her mouth, she bit into her lip to try hiding it. 

“Oh, okay.”

“I’m sorry.”

“You shouldn’t be.”

 

The pair stood in the last drops of rain, each acting as if the air around them wasn’t filled with the stifling awkward silence. Suhyun’s phone beeped with an out of place cheeriness,

 

**Big Bro:** Mom and Dad wanna skype hurry home kid you can study later

 

“What’s up?” Yerim sounded forced as if she were trying to sound casual and comfortable.

“I have to go, my brother just texted me,” Suhyun tried to gauge the expression on Yerim’s face but gave up quickly as her phone beeped once more. She smiled at Yerim before walking past her, their shoulders just barely brushing each other. Even in the cold rain Suhyun felt a burst of warmth in her chest,  _ ‘Am I getting sick?’ _

 

Sighing Suhyun plugged her headphones into her phone, texting Chanhyuk a quick ‘omw’  and walking out of the woods and back to her apartment.

 

_ ⚘⚘⚘⚘ _

 

Yerim’s presence at the meadow was almost nonexistent over the next month. Suhyun tried to ignore the heavy feeling in her chest that grew every time she would leave the meadow after waiting for Yerim, but failed miserably instead taking the time to try and figure what it was. Her personal tests showed no result, she wasn’t sick, she wasn’t forgetting anything, she’d talked to her parents over Skype last week, there was no identifiable reason for her to be so upset over Yerim being busy suddenly. After being stumped on for over a week she gave in and decided to get a second opinion.

 

“Chanhyuk,” she had just walked in from another day of waiting for Yerim who never showed up. “Can we talk?” Suhyun walked towards the kitchen where she could hear the soft clanging of dishes and pots. Chanhyuk was standing over the stove a pastel pink apron tied around his waist.

“What’s up buttercup?”

“I don’t know if anything’s really up, but I was wondering if you could help me with something?”

“Yeah just let me finish this and we can talk about whatever you need to,” Chanhyuk looked over to his sister and ruffled her wet hair. “Go change first did you trip or something? You’re covered in mud.”

 

Suhyun nodded and headed to her room she’d forgotten about the surprise mud pile that she’d tripped into in the woods. After changing into baggy pajamas that had probably been Chanhyuk’s originally, and tying her hair into a bun on top of her head, she curled herself into a corner of the small sofa that sat in the living room. They had originally gotten it so Chanhyuk could sit somewhere other than the floor when he worked, not that he actually did.

 

“So what’s going on Suhyun?” Chanhyuk handed his sister a bowl of some type of pasta. “You usually never ask me to talk about stuff.”

“I needed an unbiased opinion on something.”

“So you asked me? Fair enough. So what’s going on?”

“Well, you see I have this friend-”

“A.K.A you.”

“Shut up,” Suhyun shoved Chanhyuk’s shoulder to shut him up. “Now first you need to promise you won’t get upset or tell Mom and Dad,” Suhyun held her pinky out to her older brother.

 

“Okay but if you’ve been doing drugs then just know I’ve previously promised Mom and Dad to tell them if your health or safety is at risk.” Chanhyuk laughed as his sister shoved his shoulder again and wrapped their pinkies together to make the promise.

 

“Alright so you know how I told you I stayed late at school with a study group?”

“There was no study group was there.”

“Yeah, but I did study sometimes so it wasn’t a complete lie.”

“Where’ve you been going almost every day for the last three years then?”

 

“You know those woods over on Hamilton Street? Well on my first day at school here I got really lost on my way home because Hamilton and Hamlet are literally right next to each other and whoever planned that is a jerk.” Chanhyuk nodded in agreement,  
“Street names mess up the best of us.” 

“Exactly but when I got to the woods, I suddenly got really curious, you know like fate was guiding me there.”

“That sounds fake but okay, if you say so.”

 

“Don’t be a dick, so I decided why not and walked into them, and I wouldn’t believe it if I didn’t see it, but there’s just the most picturesque meadow. Like in all of those cheesy romance novels and movies Mom loves. You know where it’s just too perfect to be real, but this time it really was real.”

“And you never showed me this? Do you know how great that would be for writing?”

 

“I didn’t tell you because when I found it there was someone else there. Actually they walked into the meadow about five seconds after I did, but it was still really weird.” Chanhyuk nodded as Suhyun continued to talk, “We didn’t actually talk right away but we both just kept coming back and eventually we started talking. Like we’d meet there and just sit in the grass and talk for hours.”

“Relationship goals.”

“Chanhyuk please shut up.”

“Sorry, sorry. Go on.”

“Okay so we’ve been meeting almost everyday since then and now all of a sudden they haven’t been showing up as much. When I ask they tell me that they’ve just been really busy with school, which makes since since finals are coming up, but it’s been like 2 weeks since the last time they showed up.”

“And this is a problem because?”

 

“Because, because...” Suhyun paused trying to think of a way to explain why it was a problem. “Okay so it might not be a ‘ _ problem’ _ problem, but whenever they don’t show up that beautiful meadow feels about as beautiful and real as a package of hot dogs.”

“Okay, I think I’m starting to get it, tell me more about this person.” Chanhyuk pushed his empty glasses frames up the bridge of his nose.

“Well they’re probably the most beautiful person I’ve ever met, like they glow. It’s kind of like, they’re the sun, and I’m the grass. They’re really funny and listen to everything I say and honestly they’re probably the best friend I’ve ever had. And when they aren’t there, it’s like when you spend all day thinking about something in the fridge that you really want to eat but then when you get there it turns out that someone else beat you to it, you know?”

“You mean like the time you ate my last pudding cup?”

“We agreed to let that go.”

“I’ll never let it go, I’d been saving that all week.”

“Can we get back to the point?”

“Right, well maybe you want to be more than their friend, kiddo.”

“What do you mean, ‘more than their friend’?”

“I mean, it sounds like you have a pretty intense crush going on there.”

“I don’t but if I did what am I supposed to do about it?”

“Tell them.”

“What if they don’t like me?”

 

“Suhyun, I need you to trust someone who’s had their fair share of crushes and rejections. It’s so much nicer to tell them and find out where you stand, even if it means rejection, than to sit around wondering about what ifs.”

 

“How would I even tell them if I did have a crush on them though? They’re almost never at the meadow and we’ve never actually given each other details about where we live.”

“I don’t know, that’s something you’ll have to figure out for yourself. I’m here to help with what I can though.” Chanhyuk stood ruffling his sister’s hair once more and telling her to eat before it got cold before leaving the room.

 

“God I hate it when he’s actually smart.” Suhyun grumbled to herself as she ate her barely warm pasta, wondering if she really could have a crush on Yerim. Honestly it wasn’t as if she was having an internal gay crisis as one would expect, she was more curious about how to approach the question of if she really did. Suhyun had never been one for relationships or crushes; she’d always been invested in romantic things like movies and books, that didn’t mean she had in interest in the practice of romantic relationships though.

  
  


Suhyun spent the majority of the next few days questioning if she really did have a crush on Yerim, she did, and how to confess if she really did, she really really did. It was safe to say somewhere along the road in the last three years she had fallen in love with Yerim honestly. She’d asked Chanhyuk how he’d told others, his advice had been to sing a cheesy love song for them. She’d called him a nerd, and instead figured it would be better to be straightforward.

 

_ ⚘⚘⚘⚘ _

 

The sky had been beautiful since Suhyun had woken up, full of fluffy white clouds. The eraser of Suhyun’s pencil tapped at her notebook, she ignored her math teacher’s monotonous lecture in favor of thinking through the plans the rest of her Friday held. Hopefully Yerim would be at the meadow, even if she hadn’t come for the last week. Then Suhyun would be able to tell her how she was the sun for her. Hopefully it would go well and she could take Yerim back to introduce her to Chanhyuk, he’d been bugging her about her ‘mysterious crush’ since she’d talked to him about it. 

 

At long last, after an hour of her imagination running wild, the bell rang releasing her from her final class, sending her rushing out into the hallways to go to her locker and shove the oversized math textbook into the cramped space.

 

“Suhyun wait!” Suhyun stopped abruptly in her tracks turning to be met with a boy she knew was in her grade that shorter than her by at least 2 inches. She tries to remember his name but only thinks of the letter ‘C’. Cody? No, Charlie? No. “I’m Chan,” Chan that was it.

“Hi, can I help you Chan?”

“I wanted to see if you wanted to join the study group some of my friends and I have, we meet every Tuesday and Thursday in the library.”

“Why are you asking now? The year ends in two weeks.”

“Well I noticed you really don’t talk to anyone during class so I thought you might want to have some people help you study for finals and stuff.” Chan was brushing awkwardly at his arm. Suhyun felt herself blush, she hadn’t really expected anyone to call out her asocial tendencies at school.

“I’ll think about it, but I really need to go now.”

“Yeah, no problem,” Chan handed her a folded slip of paper. “Here’s my number if you need anything though okay?”

 

Suhyun nodded before turning to hurry out of the school doors. She shoved the little slip of paper into the back of her phone case where she would probably forget about it in a few days. The sun was powerful, the warmth brushing across Suhyun’s dark hair as she rushed through the streets towards the meadow. She was suddenly thankful that she’d decided to wear shorts, even if the black sweater she wore didn’t do much to keep her cool.

 

Sheltered by the trees from the harsh sun she looked out to the green grass. The bright light stinging her eyes forcing her to squint. A sparkle of pink was just barely visible to Suhyun from her hiding place.

 

“Yerim!” Suhyun shouted to get her friends attention, Yerim’s wavy hair fanned around her as she spun to face Suhyun.

“Su, you came?”  Suhyun smiled and nodded at Yerim, who was biting at her lip.

“Is something wrong Ye?”

“No, I was just really worried you wouldn’t be here, but also really worried that you would be here...”

“I came because I need to tell you something.”

“Oh... Listen before you say anything you need to know something, I don’t think I can come here like this anymore.” Suhyun stood in silence staring at her friend for a minute.

“Yerim, what are you talking about?”

“Suhyun, I, I really didn’t want to tell you this,” Yerim was looking down at the grass that was slowly turning brown and dry. “I never actually thought that anything special would ever happen here, I thought you would eventually get bored and leave but,” the blonde let out a slow breath dabbing the moisture away from her eyes. “You haven’t and I just really think you should know.”

 

“I should know what?” Suhyun tried to hold on to the hopeful feeling she had when she arrived that day.

“This isn’t real, I’m not real. I mean I’m real, I’m something, but I’m not what you think I am. I-” Suhyun could feel her heart stop dead in her chest. “It’s not like this is a dream, this is real. It’s just that I’m not like you, human that is.”

“Yerim this isn’t a funny joke, be serious.”

 

“That’s the thing I am being serious.” Suhyun gripped at the sleeves of her sweater that hung over her hands. She was imagining this, this was just a weird dream in class, it had to be.

“No, you’re joking, you have to be.” Her voice was wavering even though she was trying so hard to keep it steady.

 

“I’m not joking Su. I tried to distance myself from you so that we wouldn’t have to do this but.” Yerim was crying freely now tears shining on her skin, “I want you to know, this whole meadow is real, but only because I’m here, You’ve heard stories about faeries before right?” Suhyun nodded Chanhyuk had always loved playing ‘Peter Pan’ with her when they were little. “That’s what I am, a faerie. I exist to protect this meadow.”

“This isn’t a Disney movie Yerim, faeries aren’t real,” 

 

“It is real though Suhyun, I swear to all of the gods that have ever been and will ever be that this is real. I really wish it wasn’t though. I really wish I could be normal for you, I tried for so long to be something I’m not, but look around you the meadow is dying. I don’t have the energy to waste by pretending to be something just because I want to be around you Suhyun. It hurts me to do this but it hurts more to watch my very being slowly die because I tried to fool myself into thinking I can be normal.”

 

“Do you want to know something Yerim?” Suhyun held her breath trying to refrain from letting the tears that stung at her eyes from falling. “I came here today so excited, because I finally figured it out. Why I was so upset when you would tell me that you wouldn’t show up, when you wouldn’t let me find you beyond this patch of grass. I figured out why every time I would look at you I felt like grass on a sunny day so alive so happy. I figured out why when you’d accidentally brush my hand or smile at me or tell me about the stupid things you thought of my heart felt so full and complete. God Yerim I fell so in love with you, I wanted to tell you how in love with you I am. I wanted to tell you so bad but I was so scared that you’d be disgusted and hate me, and now you’re telling me this is fake?” Suhyun didn’t know when she started to yell her voice becoming steadily more uneven as she shouted at Yerim.

 

“Suhyun, I’m so sorry, I didn’t know. I messed up and I’m so so sorry.”  Yerim started to walk through the browning grass only to have Suhyun walk further away.

 

“No you don’t get to be sorry, you’ve been lying to me for three years. I wasted three years of my life falling in love with you, I’m not wasting anymore time.” Suhyun walked forward pushing past Yerim.

 

“Please Suhyun, please don’t leave me alone, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to exist like this again, don’t make me disappear alone. I know you won’t believe it but I really, really love you too.” Suhyun ignored Yerim’s pleading as she sprinted from the meadow. She pretended she couldn’t hear Yerim’s desperate calls for her to wait.

 

The woods that Suhyun had walked through so many times with grace and joy now tripped her as she ran. It was almost as if the woods themselves wanted Suhyun to stay with Yerim, Suhyun pushed through them anyways. She ignored how the fallen branches and small bushes scratched at her legs, she got right back up every time she tripped not paying attention to the blood red cuts that littered her hands and knees.

 

Suhyun sprinted all the way back to her apartment, bursting through the doors and collapsing on to the hard wood of the floor letting her tears finally catch up with her. Chanhyuk had been terrified when he’d gone to investigate the loud crash to find his little sister a bloody crying heap on the floor. He’d never planned on having to deal with things like this when his parents asked him to watch over Suhyun while they couldn’t, the crying he’d planned on, the blood he hadn’t.

 

“Oh my god, Suhyun are you okay?” He pushed the empty frames up his nose crouching down next to Suhyun and trying to pull her to her feet. “Come on we need to clean you up, do you need to go to the hospital? What happened, I need to call Mom, oh my god are you okay?”  Words flew from his mouth in the way they only did when he was either really excited or scared as he pulled Suhyun towards their small bathroom sitting her down on the lid of their toilet.

 

“Stay right here, I’m going to get the first aid kit okay?” Chanhyuk held his hand out to Suhyun as if she were a dog he was training to stay put as he backed up to their medicine cabinet and pulled out a little red box. Chanhyuk made quick work of cleaning the various cuts and scrapes on Suhyun’s legs covering each with a differently themed bandage, making sure to ask her what had happened at least five times a minute.

 

Suhyun was much too busy dealing with her own emotional breakdown to notice either her brother’s questioning or the bright pink bandages. Her tears had finally stop flowing, although her breath was still uneven. Chanhyuk practically carried her to her room where she curled into a ball and immediately fell asleep.

 

_ ⚘⚘⚘⚘ _

 

“Suhyun!” Chanhyuk’s fist was pounding against his sister’s door. “You have to come out of their sometime kid, please at least eat!” He was reaching the end of his ability to deal with this, Suhyun had been locked in her room since Friday refusing food, it was Monday now. “Please, Suhyun, I won’t say anything just please let me make sure you’re alive.”

 

Chanhyuk sighed with relief as he heard the sound of furniture being drug away from the door. That relief was short lived as Suhyun opened the door immediately wrapping her arms around her brother and hiding her face (which Chanhyuk had already saw, his heart cracking as he thought about her red puffy eyes.) “Hey, hey, you’re okay, it’s okay,” Chanhyuk tried to sound reassuring as he all but carried his sister towards the kitchen where an array of foods and drinks sat waiting for Suhyun. Sitting her down he went to grab a box of tissues and wiping away the tears that still clung to her face and eyes.

 

Chanhyuk was much less on edge after he’d convinced Suhyun to eat and shower, taking the opportunity to reorganise the furniture that was still far from where it should in Suhyun’s room. ‘I can handle this,’ he thought as he prepared himself to talk to his sister; he was quickly shut down as Suhyun walked back to the living room sitting down and asking him about his music as if nothing had happened. 

 

Chanhyuk sighed, taking care of this kid was too confusing.

 

_ ⚘⚘⚘⚘ _

 

If Suhyun was good at one thing, it would have to be pushing things away. Not as in people, but if she didn’t want to think about a person or a place she could turn all of the memories of it off. Kind of like shoving it in a vault where she would never have to look at it again. And this is what she did after her crying binge, she didn’t need Yerim anyway.

 

Suhyun blocked out Chanhyuk’s worried eyes that he kept looking at her with. She changed her walking path instead taking a direct route home that avoided the woods. She even talked Chanhyuk into letting her dye her hair, just the ends but it still made her feel new. Looking at the blonde and pink ends of her brown hair was like seeing herself as a new person, untouched by Yerim. She even took Chan up on the offer to join him and his friends to study, making fast friends with the other students and laughing at the antics they got up to.

 

Her senior year of highschool was looking up. Suhyun laughed as she sat around outside of the school Chan telling her some absurd story of seeing a mother chasing her toddler who was riding a great dane like a horse; one of their other friends, another senior named Saeron, braiding Suhyun’s hair in a way that made Suhyun’s heart hitch with an old pain everytime thin fingers brushed against her scalp.

 

Suhyun’s attention was pulled away from Chan’s antics by a ping from her phone. Unlocking it Suhyun found a message from an unknown numbe

 

**Unknown:**  The grass is Green,

On the ledge where we once sat,

And I could watch you.

You,

Who shined like the sun

Filling the grass that is me

With your radiant light.

 

Suhyun stared at her phone trying to process, ignoring Chan snapping his fingers to get her attention as another message appeared from the same number.

 

**Unknown:** How I wish

That you would return,

To water my dry roots with your voice,

To bring your light back and feed my tired soul

How I wish to feel Green.

 

Suhyun sat in shock as she looked at the neat text on her phone screen. The words ‘I need to go’ finding their way from her lips even if she didn’t realise it until she was running down the pavement her friends calling after her.

 

The trip to the woods was short, it felt natural for Suhyun to be on it her hair half braided fanning out behind her. It only took her a few moments to speed down the path in the woods that her own feet had made after hundreds of times walking over it.

 

As she approached the meadow her heart froze. Standing surrounded by dying brown grass stood Yerim, her hair no longer the blonde and pink combination Suhyun had known now it draped over her shoulder in long chocolate waves. The light that radiated off of her was still blinding to Suhyun though, stinging her eyes the longer she looked at her, or maybe that was just the tears welling up in her eyes.

 

“Suhyun.”

“...Yerim.”

 

Those were the only words that needed to be passed between them; everything else forgotten as Suhyun ran wrapping her arms around Yerim pressing her face into Yerim’s shoulder the scent of flowers overwhelming as Suhyun cried. They stood wrapped within their embrace for what seemed like both centuries and seconds to Suhyun, tears still running down her face as Yerim pulled back placing her hands on Suhyun’s round cheeks their tear filled eyes meeting.

 

“Did you know that magic can do some amazing things?” Yerim whispered.

“Like what?”

“Like making me human so I can stay with you,” Yerim smiled pulling Suhyun’s face closer and placing a quick gentle kiss on her lips. Suhyun smiled and pulled Yerim back for more.

 

Nothing had ever felt as right as having Yerim in her arms.


End file.
